Chitose to mo kazu wa sadamezu yo no naka ni kagiri naki mi to hito mo iu beku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千年とも数は定めず世の中に
限りなき身と人も言ふべく

Roma-ji: Chitose to mo kazu wa sadamezu yo no naka ni kagiri naki mi to hito mo iu beku
English Translation: A thousand years—no,
I will set no count at all,
so that in this world
people too may speak of you
as one whose life knows no end.
Meaning: I will not fix the count at a thousand years; may you live so long that people in this world will call you one whose life has no end.
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 270

Headnote: "On visiting the lying-in chamber of a certain person"
Refusing to fix the count at a thousand years, the poet wishes the child to live so long that people will call it one whose life knows no end. The strength of the blessing lies in its wish for a boundless span beyond even the conventional thousand years. According to the headnote, it was composed on visiting the lying-in chamber at a certain person's house.
The author, written as Yoshinobu, is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. From the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "chitose to mo," means "even as a thousand years." The first line of 298 in this book also begins "chitose to mo," sharing the conceit of refusing to limit the span to a thousand years.
Second line, "kazu wa sadamezu," means "I set no number," and the poem pauses here.
Third line, "yo no naka ni," means "in this world."
Fourth line, "kagiri naki mi to," means "as one whose life has no end." It echoes "since the heart that thinks of you knows no bounds" in 283 of this book.
Final line, "hito mo iu beku," means "so that people too may say," with "beku" the continuative form of the auxiliary "beshi." Breaking off midway, it leaves a lingering resonance.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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